The Durins' Day Out
by EMoore6
Summary: Set before the fall of Erebor, Balin has been charged with looking after the Durin Children for the day. He has it all planned out: Take Thorin, Dis and Frerin for a walk to explore Erebor, treat them to lunch out, maybe take them outside the city walls for some fresh air. And all done in time for tea! Perfect! What could go wrong!


"No! Balin! Nooooooo!"

"Now my Prince, you know you have to wear this, as does every child in this mountain! Now come along!"

"No! Balin please! Don't make me wear it!"

Balin sighed and looked at the little tearstained face of his Prince. He knew that Thorin had to wear it because otherwise the Little Prince would go a-tumbling off the side of the high walkways of Erebor and THAT would be a catastrophe!

He turned to Thorin's siblings. He knew that they would probably have similar reactions and was starting to wonder why he volunteered to look after them while Prince Consort Thrain and Lady Frís had some alone time. Ah, no. He knew why he volunteered, his devotion to the royal family was unshakeable and when Lady Frís had come to him for help, exhausted as she was, he was quite unable to say no.

Which leads him to the situation he was currently in. Trying to wrestle a 12 year old, an 8 year old and a 5 year old into the harnesses that would be leashed to him so that none would be in any harm of walking off the unrailed sides of the pathways that connected Erebor. Oh Joy.

Balin had thought that Thorin would be a good lad and set an example, for his siblings…but today was just not his day. This had to be the day that Thorin was in an uncooperative mood. Hopefully his siblings would be better behaved…

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"Argh. Got ya! There we go! Now wasn't that simple!"

Frerin, finally in his harness, looked up at Balin with a scowl on his face. Dis hadn't put up much of a fight, knowing that, although she didn't like the harness, she wouldn't get to go out if she didn't have it on. Frerin, bless his little cotton socks, was in that stage where he imitated everything his big brother did and put up a ferocious fight.

Balin lined them all up next to the door to inspect them and smiled.

Thorin, Frerin and Dis looked up at their tutor/babysitter, and sulked.

"Well, let's get on shall we?" Balin clapped his hands as he gathered up the leashes attached to the harnesses.

This shouldn't be too hard now, Balin thought.

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Balin had never been so wrong in all his life.

It was awful.

No.

It was worse than that.

It was diabolical.

Why, Oh why, did he think that taking a trip around Erebor would be a good idea?!

They had only gotten as far as the Great Markets some 5 floors below before Thorin, the little devil that he is, managed to wriggle his way OUT OF THE HARNESS! Thorin had escaped. Thorin was nowhere to be seen. Thorin was running amok around Erebor and Balin was DEAD.

"Okay, Balin. Calm down. You are the prince of Erebor IN Erebor. Free. You can go wherever you want. _Where would you go? " _Balin said firmly to himself.

Frerin tugged on Balin's trouser leg, looking up at him with his thumb in his mouth. "Bawin, hup!" Frerin extended his arms until Balin sighed and picked him up, unable to resist the Durin trademark Puppy Eyes.

"Can you see your brother Frerin?" Balin asked wearily.

Frerin looked at Balin, a tiny frown forming on the toddler's face. "You wost Forin?"

"Yes little one, but it has to be our secret!" Balin gathered Frerin and Dis in front of him. "No one can know that Thorin escaped! Not even your parents! Can you do that for me little ones?" Balin pleaded with the dwarflings, if this got out, then his father Fundin would be furious! He would lose his job and quite possibly his head if any harm came to the young Prince.

Dis looked up solemnly and nodded her head. She looked down at Frerin who was glaring up at Balin, as angry as a toddler could be when their eldest sibling was missing (and they were stuck being dragged around Erebor), and nudged him. Frerin looked up at his Sister, who gave him the infamous Durin Glare, and nodded reluctantly.

"Thank you children. Now, how would you like to play a game?" Balin said enthusiastically.

The remaining Durin Siblings looked up hopefully, the idea of some fun brightening their moods.

"This game is called "Hide and Seek"! Now, Thorin has already gone to hide, and we need to find him! The Dwarf who spots him first wins the game! Sound fun?" Balin tried to sound as encouraging as possible. But he needed more people to join this game if they were ever to find Thorin.

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Thorin was free! He had escaped the Great Dragon and was currently searching for Bad Guys to defeat! Thorin hunkered down on top of his perch above the Great Markets. This was AMAZING! He could see EVERYTHING from up here! If only Dwalin was with him, he always had the best ideas for taking down bad guys. But Dwalin was training with his Adad and Thorin was left to his own devises. He would just have to get inventive…

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"Thorin!"

"Forin!"

"My Prince, you'll have to come out soon!"

Balin, Dis and Frerin, were playing their game of "Hide and Seek" and so far had had no luck in finding Thorin; Frerin and Dis were starting to get bored and were contemplating trying to escape like their big brother.

"We have to find him remember! That's when you win the game!" Balin tried to keep their spirits up, which was pretty hard when his felt like they were tumbling from the top of the mountain (like he hoped Thorin was NOT doing).

"What do we get if we win?" Dis asked.

"What?" Balin replied distractedly.

"What do we get if we win? What's in it for us?" Frerin now looked up at the mention of a reward for his hard work in this 'game'.

"Umm, Well… You get, sweets?" Balin tried to think of what Dis might be getting at.

"Sweetses! YAY!" Frerin took to searching for Thorin with a renewed vigour. The promise of a reward like sweets would get him to do anything, a fact for which Balin was eternally grateful.

Dis looked thoughtfully around her. "Maybe we want something _more_ than sweets…"

Balin looked down at the middle Durin child in shock. Dis was 8 years old and already as opportunistic as her Mother. He signed, utterly defeated by the Durin siblings. "Fine! What is it you want?"

Mahal! These Kids were going to be the death of him!

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Thorin had the Leader of the Bad Guys in sight. He clutched his practice sword that he had borrowed from a nearby stall and was about to pounce.

Suddenly, another dwarf stood in front of his target and started speaking to him in rapid Khuzdul. Must be the second in command, Thorin thought grimly, more to take out. His chances weren't looking good. The two Dwarrow started walking fast towards the exit of the Great Markets. Thorin snuck out of his hiding place and used the skills his Uncle Fundin taught him to tail his targets with the upmost stealth.

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"Bawin! I shaw Forin! He's ova dare! Goin to da Consal Room!" Frerin had extremely keen eyes when he deemed it useful to use them. "Do a get da sweetses now?"

Balin, Frerin and Dis had abandoned the Great Markets and had taken to searching the suspended walkways of Erebor. Balin looked towards the direction of the Council Room. Sure enough he had looked just in time to see Thorin dart into the room as the door was closing.

"HNURGH! Thorin, NO!" Balin scooped up Dis and Frerin and hurried over to the connecting walkways that would take him to the Throne room.

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Thorin gripped his sword and hid behind the pillar, giddy with excitement. His game was going well so far. His targets had yet to notice him, and Balin had yet to find him! Oh, if only Dwalin was here to share in his victory!

Thorin crouched down and surveyed the council room. His Grandfather was sat in the Throne with his stuffy council surrounding the table before him. Now that Thorin could get a good look, the first Dwarf looked like one of the visiting Nobles from the Iron Hills. So, the one behind Grandfather must be an assassin! Thorin thought excitedly.

It suddenly hit Thorin what that meant and he gasped silently; his target was going to hurt his Grandfather! He had to do something! Thorin looked around and caught a glimpse of his target's accomplice moving slowly towards the back of the throne, completely unnoticed by the numerous guards in the room.

Thorin tried to remember what Fundin had taught him about strategic thinking, planning his moves so that he could obtain the best outcome possible. He turned back to look at the villains, and observe their mannerisms.

The Dwarf in front of Grandfather: he favoured his right side, right hand, was someone important judging by his stance, had few lessons in swordplay but lots with the axe as the weapon was upon his belt within easy reach. Not easy to take but easier than his training masters.

The Dwarf near the back of the throne: again, favoured his right hand, more practice with a sword but not professionally, he didn't look like he knew how to properly hold it! Thorin scoffed, he would be easy to take with his sword.

Thorin kept looking and assessing the situation, he didn't know when the two dwarves were going to act but he knew it was soon.

Suddenly, Thorin saw a flash of silver coming from the Dwarf nearer to the throne. Thorin rushed out of his hiding place with a fierce a roar as he could manage from his small body and charged at the dwarf with the dagger.

The whole room (council) whipped round to face him. The dwarf with the dagger looked startled as Thorin charged towards him and turned his attentions away from the King under the Mountain to defend himself against the small dwarfling hurtling towards him with a mean looking practice sword.

Thorin crashed into the dwarf knocking the dagger out of his hand and the dwarf onto the floor. The momentum Thorin had gathered made him lose his balance and tumbled onto the floor next to the assassin. "NO ONE HURTS MY GRANDFATHER!" Thorin yelled angrily as he pounced again with his sword in his hand, eager to defeat his enemy.

The guards, once they recovered from the shock of a Dwarfling doing a better job than them at spotting danger, immediately recognised the assassin as one of Ibûn's men. They jumped into action, seizing the Dwarf Lord before he could escape their King's judgement and tried to separate the fighting Dwarrow, trying to protect their Prince.

Balin burst into the room after hearing the commotion with Frerin and Dis right behind him. Fearing the worst he had managed to bring along extra guards that were on the walkway at the time. He looked in shock at Ibûn being restrained by the guards, then to the dwarf assassin on the floor writhing in pain after Thorin hand managed to run his leg through with the practice sword somewhere in the kerfuffle.

"Look Balin! I took out a Bad Guy!" Thorin exclaimed excitedly. "He was all like 'AARRGH' and I was like 'AARGH NO ONE HURTS MY GRANDFATHER!' and then I hit him so hard with my sword and he screamed like 'OOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!' and then—" Thorin heard a great 'whumph' coming from behind him and cut himself off during his performance. "Balin?"

Balin was on the floor in a dead faint after hearing what Thorin had done to the assassin that had been after Thror.

Thror looked at the ridiculous situation that had occurred and started laughing.

"Well, you've certainly had an interesting day haven't you my Jewels! Someone take this Dwarf and his accomplice away! We will be having words later" The guards all paled as Thror turned and sat back down onto his throne. "Why don't you come and tell your Grandfather all about it, hmm" Thror opened his arms, and Thorin, Dis and Frerin raced to their Grandfather, all talking at the same time and clambering over the throne.

"Woah, woah, woah! One at a time young ones! Frerin, why don't you start…"

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"Well, you've certainly had an interesting day son." Fundin said once he noticed Balin, who was currently recovering on the settee.

Balin groaned pathetically in response to his Father's teasing. "Never again, Father. Next time, you can take care of the Durin children, and I will assist the King with any boring matters he sees fit to give me."

Fundin laughed gruffly. "Sure! I'll take those three rascals any day over boring guard rotas and supply lists." Fundin knew that wouldn't happen though. He was the only one who could authorise the changes to the guard system other than the King himself, who was too busy with other matters like running the kingdom! Balin was the only one who could get the Durin children under some sense of control, besides their mother of course. And no matter how much he complained, Fundin knew that deep down he always enjoyed his time with the children… well, most of the time anyway!

There was a knock on the door.

"Hello Master Fundin, I was wondering if Balin was in?" The voice of Lady Frís came drifting through the door. Balin moaned quietly and got up to walk to the sitting room.

"Ah, there you are my dear! I came to thank you for your help today. My husband and I feel so much better after our break and it was only really thanks to you that we got to have one!" Lady Frís started reverently, "Honestly, you really are one of a kind Balin, I don't know anyone else who could've done it on such short notice."

Balin looked up at Lady Frís wearily, "Was there something you needed My Lady?"

A gently flush came to Lady Frís' cheeks as she realised she had been babbling and a sheepish look overtook her face. "Same time next week?" she asked weakly.

Balin whimpered.


End file.
